You, I Will Follow
by Katsunya-sama
Summary: Follow a girl on her road to being a kunoichi as she explores herself and the dangerous world around her. As close to the manga and anime as possible, but still AU. Rated M for future fight scenes and lemons.
1. You, I Will Follow : Prologue

**You, I Will Follow : Prologue**

At the edge of Konohagakure, hidden by trees lies a small shrine's staircase. If the path were to be followed, of course at the top would be a simple shrine but also a small house. The house had been passed down through a few generations of maidens and priests belonging to the Satori clan. It was a clan that utilized the powers of chakra to aid in healing and was never inclined to be aggressive. The last child born to the Satori line was a female and, unfortunately, she had been deemed sterile. She went on to become a priestess and married, but had a sullen mindset that she would be the last of her clan's name. As her relatives died off or had been killed by various means and people, this young woman and her husband lived their quiet days in a solemn cloud. The man had no ability to use chakra and made a living from wood carvings which he sold to help benefit the shrine, but the lack of an heir caused him to begin to despise the woman he married. He was old fashioned and had only married her for her title with the belief that she would provide great children for him. She did not disclose that she was sterile until after they had married.

One day, while she cleaned the shrine as she always did in the morning, the woman heard the soft cries of a baby by the front of the shrine and rushed over. There, tucked into a tree's crook was a baby bound in a soft pink blanket. Immediately, she removed the child from the tree and looked around with hopes to catch a glimpse of whomever had left the child. No footsteps were heard and so the woman peered down at the softly sniffling baby in her arms. It was a baby girl, no more than a few days old. It was such a shame, but the woman smiled at the baby girl, feeling blessed. She rushed home, eager to show her husband.

The reaction she received from him was less than desired and he even threatened to throw the child down the hill their shrine sat upon. With a bravery fit of the last priestess inside of Konoha, she proclaimed that they would keep the baby girl and raise her as their own, or she would by herself. Bitter towards the infant, her husband told her to do as she wished.

Over the years as the girl grew, she proved to be a charming little blonde haired, blue eyed girl, a contrast to the brown eyed and haired parents she had, but no one questioned it. At least, not to the little family. Gossip and rumors followed the three all around town, but the woman ignored them; her husband on the other hand, took everything they had said to heart and grew even more hostile towards the child and his wife. He never showed any affection towards either of them, just made his meager living and lived his life.

The tragedy of the Nine Tailed Fox attack only made the husband feel inferior to his wife. He watched as she used kekkai ninjutsu or barrier ninjutsu far advanced than what he had ever seen to protect various parts of the village and in the aftermath, watched as she healed others with her advanced knowledge of medical ninjutsu. He, on the other hand, could only be there to bring in supplies when they were needed.

While the husband stewed in his own world of self loathing and bitterness, his wife and her adopted daughter enjoyed their life together. They would go to festivals and walks around town, making friends as they both went. Two friends in particular brought the pair more into the gossip spotlight; the youngest son of the Uchiha clan and the jinchuriki boy. Both friendships caused the family of three to become social outcasts, but it effected the husband more so. His sales went down considerably as rumors were spread about his little wood carving shop and the less customers appeared in his store, the worse his outlook got.

Eventually, the husband couldn't handle the stress anymore and set fire to his wood carvings. Due to the fact that his workshop was nothing more than a small addition to the house they lived in, he had inadvertently trapped himself inside with the fire. His screams and pleas were what had awoken his wife and her daughter, only to have them realize that they too were trapped because of the fire. The priestess, being a genuine kind soul, rushed to help her husband while pleading for her daughter to remain safe and escape. Unfortunately, the girl passed out from inhaling too much smoke and was unable to get out by herself. Thankfully, the police force and other residents of Konoha rushed to the aid of the Satori family. All three members were able to be rescued and rushed to the hospital. Because she had hid in her room, the little girl suffered very small burns which allowed the medical ninja there to focused more on her smoke inhalation. The priestess, unfortunately, died as she had tried to save her husband from being burned to death. The husband survived, but not without consequences. He suffered major lung damage and had been paralyzed from the waist down. For the rest of his miserable life, he was told he would need a wheelchair and a machine to help him breath. He was also told that his wife had died but _their_ child survived. He cringed. He had to take the girl back with him.

From then on, he finally acknowledged the girl as his daughter, but the word was always said with such hate behind it that she grew to detest the word. Her home life was as empty as it could have been, considering the man rarely spoke to her or interacted with her. She had to learn from books and scrolls the path of a priestess and wanted to honor her late mother by continuing her legacy, even though she herself was so young.

Not too long after the fire, the Uchiha boy started training to become a ninja. Excitedly, he would show her all of the cool things he could do and she would try them out. At first, it was merely play for the two, but when his father became overly serious about his son's training, the girl stopped taking it as a game and decided that she would help him train as well as continue to be a self taught shrine maiden.

A few years later and tragedy struck the Uchiha clan. The unspeakable act by the eldest brother left yet another hole in the girl's heart. She sought out her friend and was there for him as he had been for her over the years. She continued to train with him, cheering him on for his goal to become stronger and aiding him in any way she possibly could. Those years had taken her from the friendship she had with the jinchuriki boy, but it wasn't done out of hatred for him; she just had a one track mind as a child. The closer she grew to the Uchiha boy, the more his fellow classmates (more specifically the girls) grew to resent her. She didn't even go to the academy and yet she was able to be by his side as much as possible. The time she spent with the boy was always best compared to when she had to go home and face her _father_ , if one could even call him that.

It was around the time her friend had graduated from the academy that her father's health took a downward spiral. They had no money for the expensive procedures it took to keep him alive and the girl was unable to gather any spare money to do them. Yes, there was a small secret treasure stash under the shrine, but she dared not touch it for _his_ sake. She only dove into it and took a few coins to keep the shrine running and to make sure they did not get evicted. Since most of his time was spent in and out of the free clinics or the hospital, the girl left her father to deal with his failing health by himself; yes, she was doing it out of spite because of the fire, but it was also because the way they lived was more as if their existences were forgotten to each other. It was a very unhealthy way for a young girl to live, but no one intervened mostly because no one knew the depth of how unhealthy their parent and child relationship was. Each mission, minor or not, her friend's team took on was a horrible waiting game for the girl. She spent all of her free time training as both a maiden and a ninja or taking care of the Uchiha's dwellings, the apartment he lived in on a more common basis or the old compound where his family used to live.

On one particular mission, though, the girl couldn't help but think that things were going wrong. Unfortunately, all she could do was wait for her friend to get home.


	2. You, I Will Follow : Chapter 1

**You, I Will Follow : Chapter 1**

"-I, uma, tora."

A small voice whispered. Nothing happened.

"Hebi, hitsuji, saru, i, uma, tora."

The voice was louder, but again, nothing.

"Hebi, hitsuji, saru, i, uma, tora!"

The last word was screamed in frustration across the water. Birds flew away because of the noise. The blonde panted as anger and frustration built up. Her chest heaved under her blue kimono and her legs wobbled slightly, though thanks to her sandals she was planted firmly on the ground. Kitoku had never been able to accomplish the most basic fire technique her friend had showed her years ago and that day had proven to be no exception. The hand sign was and opted for covered fists at her sides instead. Another failure. Another time when her friend would come back home and she would be unable to proudly state she finally got the hang of it. The young girl was able to learn the techniques from her mother's scrolls - barriers, healing, wind jutsu - and yet was unable to produce even a small flame for the jutsu. With a powerful kick, a rock flew into the water with a loud plop that could be heard even from the pier. Kitoku turned her back on the lake with her crystal blue gaze pointed downward towards the dock below. The mission Sasuke was on should have allowed him to come home already and the frustration from not knowing what was going on just fueled her anger more. The blonde stomped away from the water's edge which caused the boards to creak until she hopped onto the grass. Once on the grass, the girl took off running at a high speed. Kitoku was unsure where she was headed; she just knew that she had to run and doing parkour around the village sounded like a nice way to blow off steam. It also helped the adolescent to practice chakra control and the ability to stick to buildings and odd angles for longer periods of time. It didn't take long before the top of the wall that surrounded Konohagakure had been reached. In the area where Kitoku had jumped onto it, no one really paid attention to her actions. It was something she had taken up fairly recent, despite the protests from various chuunin and jounin over the past few months. It was fortunate for her that two of the hokage's assistants had goven her permission to browse the top of the wall, given that she did not deface or destroy it in any way. Good thing for her was that she was not a destructive child. With a heavy sigh and her shoulders slumped, the blonde continued to walk along the wall and ignored the various adults who yelled at her until the main gate to the rest of the land had been arrived at. Several people in that area noticed her and whispered to each other about a child being on top of the gate, but she pretended like they didn't exist; in her world, for the time being, they didn't matter so it was easy. With a frown still plastered on her face, the youth plopped down onto the gate's top and stared at the horizon. When would he come back? What caused them to take such a long time? It felt like hours passed by but it had only been twenty minutes at most when she decided to lay down instead and stared at the clouds.

Time was lost as she watched the fluffy white objects above her. Her mind was filled with all the possibilities of what had happened until a very distinct voice cut through her thoughts like a serrated knife. Naruto's voice became slightly shrill in anger as he shouted at Sasuke, but because of how high she was, the girl couldn't quite make out what their current fight was about. Kitoku could only assume it was about their individual strength as usual, which made her shake her head and sigh as she sat up and peered down at the four of them. As usual, Kakashi was behind them and seemed to have kept his comments to himself while Sakura had butt in and only seemed to make the situation worse. Something the strawberry blonde said only stirred the pot more as Sasuke had anger written all over his face. With a small wrinkle of annoyance in her face, Kitoku figured that before anyone else said something and inched them closer to ruining the little teamwork they already had going for them, she would step in. She placed her sandaled feet on the ninety degree angle of the wood and began the quest down with a quick pace. Only their sensei noticed her as she decended, of course, while the three genin continued to bicker. The girl jumped onto the ground once she was close enough to not cause any pain to her legs or feet and crossed her arms.

"Welcome back, Sasuke-kun." Kitoku's face held a smile, but the tick of irritation was still present, especially as Naruto spoke.

"Hey, Sasuke, your wife's here to pick you up," he said with a snicker.

"Shut up, dobe."

Sakura clicked her tongue against the top of her mouth and glared at the girl. Kitoku ignored the comment from the fellow blonde, completely disregarded the obvious sign of vexation from the other girl, and nodded towards the gates as blue orbs focused on Sasuke's sour face.

"Let's go, k? You guys just got back and I bet _everyone_ needs some rest." Those blue orbs trailed over the other genin's faces as she spoke. Her words were met with bothered expressions and a sigh. She uncrossed her arms and grabbed Sasuke by his bicep, then tugged on him. He gave her a slightly annoyed glare and twisted his arm from her grasp, then started to walk away on his own. The blonde girl pouted after him, then followed with a small wave to Kakashi as both a hello and goodbye, which he returned. Satisfied, Kitoku offered a small smile and then turned to face forward as the pair walked away.

"Why is she nicer to you than me and Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Because I don't annoy her," he answered with a smartass tone and a smile. This only made Naruto grumble more as the duo went out of everyone's sight.

The further inside the village Sasuke got, the calmer Kitoku got. Her blue eyes followed his every movement, which to anyone else would be considered creepy, but it was her way of figuring out things that he wouldn't tell her directly. From her observations, she could tell that something happened that damaged his pride enough for it to be present in his walk. The boy's steps were light which made only slight impressions in the dirt road they travelled. There were several visible small wounds visible on his arms and legs that were just about fully healed; not unusual for after a mission. The blonde couldn't find anything life threatening or any wounds in any vital areas. She took in how his appearance was overall; he looked a little more pale than usual, which worried her greatly, and his clothing had little rips in it and small bloodstains around the rips. How was his health? Was his complexion paler than normal because of stress? Wherever they were headed, Kitoku made sure to keep in her mind to make sure Sasuke ate or drank something to help with anything that might be wrong inside. She kept her concerns to herself and remained quiet as they walked with her at his side the entire walk. Only a few times did she almost get left behind since he had taken a few turns that were unexpected. It made her a little curious about where they were going, at least until they reached the outer walls of the Uchiha compound. With a slight frown on her face, she reluctantly followed the raven haired boy passed the dilapidated gate and down the empty streets. The sound of the bustling village disappeared quickly from her ears; all that was left were the footsteps of the two children. Kitoku looked around, checking to see if anyone was there that need not be and to see if anything had changed. Yes, over time things had begun to deteriorate, but she wanted to make sure no one vandalized the buildings. She respected the late Uchiha family and her friend too much to allow people to get away with vandalizing anything beyond those shorter walls.

It didn't take too long before Sasuke had led her to his old house. He removed his shoes at the front door, as did she, and walked inside with his backpack. Kitoku hesitated at the front door and ran a hand along the frame. Crystal blue eyes trailed from the position of the hand on the dark wood to the even darker hallway that was just passed the open front door. Her eyes turned into little pools as tears began to well up. Sometimes, she would be able to put off what happened to the back of her mind; sometimes she would be overcome with emotions. Even though the latter were true in that moment, she wiped her eyes and stepped over the threshold.

"Sasuke-kun?" Her voice was soft, but still able to echo throughout the house. No answer. The raven haired boy had left her at the front door while he had gone inside by himself. She sighed and wandered inside on her own. She looked into every room that was on the first floor and saw no sign of the boy. One room she couldn't bear to touch was the training room off the side of the first floor; too much pain still hung in that room and, even though it wasn't hers, she could feel it.

"Sasuke-kun…?" She called for him again as she walked up one set of stairs that led to the second floor. Once more, she peered into every room she passed by until she reached his room; it was slightly ajar. Kitoku was about to enter when the door suddenly opened and startled her. She jumped back and held her hand to her chest as her blue orbs met saddened onyx ones. His hair was mostly down, as if it had been wet or he had washed his face, and his clothes were changed to a more comfortable dark grey T-shirt and light grey sweat pants that ended a few inches above his ankles.

"You still suck at sneaking up on people." His tone was flat, but his eyes said that he was just joking with her. She offered him a fake annoyed expression, then smiled at him and lightly punched him in the arm.

"I was just looking for you, smartass. You suck at answering when someone calls for you," was her rebuttal. The two shared a look of silent understanding before they headed for the second set of stairs that led to the kitchen. She went first and practically flew down the stairs so that she could start making something for the two of them. He, on the other hand, slowly walked down the stairs, shaking his head along the way at her energy.

"If I didn't know any better, I swear I could mistake you for Naruto's sister." She rolled her eyes at his comment as he entered the kitchen area.

"Green or black?"

"Green, what kind of question is that."

"Sometimes the caffeine can perk you up," Kitoku said with a shrug, then went about making the tea and preparing some rice. If his stomach was upset or if he wasn't too hungry, something heavy wouldn't be right to prepare. Sasuke plopped onto the ground next to the table with a small grunt and leaned his elbows on it as he watched her busy herself. He looked down at the table and noticed two pairs of chopsticks on the table, a signal she had been by earlier. He idly pushed a single chopstick around as his mind wandered. The two remained in silence the whole time, even when a bowl was placed before the boy. He picked up the chopsticks he had been pushing around and began to slowly eat. Kitoku set a cup of tea next to him as well, then returned to the counter for her own.

"How's your father?"

The question was so out of the blue for him that she actually paused what she was doing and turned slowly towards him. Her eyes grew dim and her lips pursed as she turned back to her bowl of rice and cup of tea even though she did nothing more than stare at them.

"He's in the hospital again. Has been since the day after you left."

"Have you visited him?"

"No."

The room turned quiet once more but the air thick grew between them. On her papers it was stated that she only had a mother, and she was now dead. The man she called father never officially claimed her as his daughter and Sasuke knew that, yet he had asked her about her _father_. He wasn't usually one for small talk so the conversation made her slightly worried and a little ticked off. She turned back to the table and sat down with her own serving. He had stopped eating and opted to stare at her.

"You should visit him."

"I refuse, you know that."

"I'm just suggesting you visit him-"

"Well don't. You know he hates me." She picked up her own chopsticks and played in her rice with them. "And, to be honest, I think I hate him, too." Her words were quiet as she avoided his dark gaze. Kitoku set her chopsticks to rest upright in her rice as she decided to finally look Sasuke in the eye. "Why the sudden interest in my dad, huh? Why the small talk? What happened out there?"

It was his turn to grow quiet and avoid her gaze.

"Sasuke-kun?" She tilted her head at him.

"I almost died on my mission." Her breath hitched in her throat. He _what?_ "There was a kid there who had the ability to control ice… I thought I could handle him and I couldn't, not by myself… And at the last second, Naruto came in. He defeated this kid, while I laid on the ground bleeding. I was in and out of consciousness… My whole life flashed before me and I…" He looked down at the table, then clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it onto the table. "I wasn't strong enough, just like before! It pissed me off. I was glad the kid was finally defeated, but it pissed me off that the one who did it was Naruto. That no talent _idiot_ defeated this guy. I felt as useless as Sakura was during the whole thing. All she did was stand there and freaking cry. And now that _dobe_ is a hero. The small village we helped save gave _Naruto_ so much praise. No one honored me or Kakashi. We were thanked as a team and he was thanked personally." The anger on his face made Kitoku frown out of sadness. The mission really hurt him, more emotionally and mentally than physically. It brought out memories of the past and how the boy before her felt useless as a child. Sure, he was angry about Naruto being more recognized than he had been, but she was sure that the true problem was how Sasuke had felt that he had failed on the mission, regardless if they had completed it or not by everyone else's standards. She leaned over the table and placed both of her hands gently on his tightly closed fist. Carefully, she peeled his fingers away from each other and ran her finger tips over the grooves his nails had made in his palm. Those dainty hands of hers covered his hand and gave it a slight squeeze as she offered him a soft smile.

"So then we just train harder. And you will get stronger. And one day, you can show everyone that you can be a hero too, just like you are to me." Her crystal blue eyes sparkled as she spoke and he looked up at her. Her expression caused a slight tint of pink to spread on his pale cheeks and he looked away, but nodded at her words.

"Yeah… Starting tomorrow."


End file.
